1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer software. More specifically, the present invention relates to computer software applications configured to facilitate the interactive design of three-dimensional (3D) models of utility networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, computer aided design (CAD) applications allow a designer or engineer to compose graphical representations of utility networks. For example, a user interacting with a CAD application may generate a model of a utility network by drawing simple 2D objects to represent components such as pipes, conduits, manhole covers, etc. Common 2D drawing objects include simple lines and arcs, etc. Additionally, some CAD applications may provide groupings of 2D objects used to model certain real-world structures (e.g., a collection of lines and ellipses to represent a cylinder). The user positions these 2D drawing objects relative to one another to generate the graphical representation of the utility network.
Additionally, a given 2D drawing object may be displayed with a label that presents information regarding the real-world component being represented by the 2D drawing object. Such attributes may be part of engineering and construction documentation generated from the 2D drawing. For example, a line representing a pipe may be displayed with a label that provides attributes such as the diameter, length, inner diameter etc., of the pipe.
Typically, the user of a CAD application will create many different views to represent the same utility network from different perspectives. For example, a plan view may provide a “top-down” perspective and a profile view may provide a cross-sectional perspective of the utility network. To modify the utility network represented by the 2D drawing objects, the designer or engineer may have to edit one or more of the 2D drawing objects within an individual view. For example, if a user changes the diameter of a 2D graphical object representing a pipe displayed in a profile view, the user may also have to determine what other changes have to be made to the 2D drawing objects in the profile view to account for this modification. Further, the user must also make similar modifications to other views, such as a plan view. The editing process is thus quite tedious and labor intensive.
Furthermore, the 2D graphics objects such as lines and curves only provide a crude representation of the network parts and thus the utility network and do not adequately describe or portray the actual real-world parts being used to construct the utility network. As stated, users often compose 2D graphical models to generate engineering and construction documentation. For example, a user may compose a plan view that includes labels or annotations that indicate the size, type, manufacturer, model number, etc. for a particular utility network component. In addition to the requirement that multiple views may have to be modified to reflect a desired change, a user may also have to update the labels or annotations provided with a given view. Because modifications to 2D drawing objects (and any attributes or annotation labels) must be replicated individually within each view, the process is both time consuming and error-prone.
Accordingly, the crude 2D drawing objects fail to reflect the real-world characteristics of utility network components. Moreover, because views are created independently from one another, any changes made for one view requires other views to be updated individually.